Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Home
Evangelical
Women in Religion
Global Faith and the Media – Uneasy Bedfellows

Global Faith and the Media – Uneasy Bedfellows

Last updated on: September 24, 2022 at 8:39 pm by Adrian Warnock

Global Faith and the Media – Uneasy Bedfellows 2022-09-24T20:39:41+01:00 Adrian Warnock

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Major study reveals the public wants more faith media coverage but newsrooms are discouraged from covering religion. It is time for religious bloggers and mainstream media to collaborate.

As a faith blogger since 2003 I have always had a mixed view of the mainstream media. Of course I have a lot of respect for journalists and the work they do in covering news. But often a lack of passion or expertise comes across and for many issues a good citizen journalist trumps someone writing copy on a tight deadline.

When it comes to matters of faith, my view has always been that the media simply doesn’t get it. When faith is mentioned at all in news reports errors are rife, and there appears to be little sympathy towards people of faith. In an effort in some cases to appear “unbiased” the faith aspects of many top stories are airbrushed out and religious news simply doesn’t appear to get the attention it deserves. This was certainly true in the coverage of the death of Queen Elizabeth the Great whose very real personal faith was conveniently ignored by many mainstream outlets. Since the Queen was the head of one of the World’s largest faith groups, the Anglican Communion, this silence was a major missed opportunity to counter the stereotypes that women are not welcomed in many religions as leaders.

In light of all this I was very interested to read the recent report of the The Inaugural Global Faith and Media Study which can be downloaded here.

The study interviewed journalists and members of the public from six different continents and had participants from all the World’s major religions, it also included agnostics and atheists.

The almost 9500 interviews led to a ranking of countries by how religious or secular they were based on how strongly participants identified with being a person of faith. The USA was one of the most religious countries, while the UK was one of the most secular.

Source: The Global Faith and Media Study

Despite this clear range in how strongly people identify with a Faith, globally 74% said they were in some way affiliated with a specific religion or denomination, and 72% believe in a God or gods.

The majority of the World population (63%) showed a desire for good quality content on faith and religion, and just over half (53%) said that the media in their country deliberately ignores matters of faith in their output. 80% of people believe that the media uses religious spokespeople who are not sufficiently relevant.

Meanwhile the journalists who were interviewed admitted that they felt their outlet’s religious coverage was poor, inconsistent, and becoming more marginalised. They described largely secular newsrooms as a hostile environment for producing good faith based news items. They were concerned that specialist journalists no longer exist in most organisations leaving generalists to cover the news. The only time editors seem to want to cover religion is if there is a good salacious scandal to stoke up controversy.

Websites like the one I am writing on now are filling something of the gap in coverage from the mainstream media. 1 in 3 of the global population follow media sources which focus on matters of religion. This rises to 47% of people in the most religious countries.

There is a massive unmet demand for quality religious media content

The world’s population is looking for coverage of matters of faith that is diverse, in-depth, and not divisive. There is a concern among 43% of the World’s population that the current approach to religion by mainstream media creates unease and anxiety. The polarisation we see in so many issues massively affects matters of faith. Many people want to be able to better understand these complex issues and surely this would help to promote peace and harmony.

81% of the respondents believe that the media promotes stereotypes of religious people:

Most religions are against homosexuality
Religion promotes radicalism
Religious clergy abuses children
Women are not welcome as leaders

How could bloggers help?

When I first began blogging back in 2003 many of us felt a new era of mutual understanding was upon us. There was huge amounts of conversation between bloggers of different faiths and none. Suddenly we could interact and learn from real people with real lives who had very different perspectives from your own. No more tearing down straw men and women.

In the early days you would write about a matter of faith and within minutes another blogger would be in your comments explaining why you had misrepresented or not understood their view. A kind of mutual correction happened. I learnt so much from those of many different backgrounds. Some of the most widely read posts I have ever written come from that era and were birthed in collaboration which crossed boundaries of faith communities.

In writing two of my most popular posts ever I got help from some Muslim bloggers. The short series was a an attempt to help people from both communities understand how they agree and disagree with each other about Jesus. A similar desire to promote understanding rather than conflict drove my various theological spectrum posts and debates that I have been a part of.

Sadly even in the blogosphere we are now increasingly becoming isolated from each other and shepherded into separate self-reinforcing bubbles or echo chambers. Rarely do I hear from bloggers of other faiths any more. And the old days of written blog debates and back and forth seem to be almost over. Even here on Patheos “the premier online destination to engage in the global dialogue about religion and spirituality” , if we are brutally honest we have not so much a conversation as a multitude of monologues from a huge range of voices from all faiths and none.

I would love to see Patheos bloggers becoming part of the solution to the crisis in all forms of media communication about faith. We can surely produce more true interactive conversations in the form of blogs, and many of us could surely cross over into becoming more regular spokespeople and podcast conversation partners. Perhaps the mainstream media might even be persuaded to engage some of us to produce high quality content for them. Many bloggers would make great opinion columnists.

There are only a few outposts of the kind of engagement I believe is at the core of good religious media content whether in mainstream or on blog sites. One is the wonderful radio program, internet podcast, and more recently fellow Patheos column, Unbelievable?. Its host, Justin Brierley has for many years now quietly created content that genuinely educates by putting head to head people of different faiths or none. One example that could help diffuse the unnecessary hostility all too often seen between people of religious faith and those with none is the wonderful discussion between Richard Dawkins and Francis Collins. Justin offers advice in a recent article here on Patheos on how to find common ground across the religious divide.

What is Multi-Faith?

Multi-faith is collaborative engagement across various faith traditions, not sacrificing theological identity, but rather acknowledging that – even in the midst of our significant differences – we share a common humanity and value every person. #MultiFaith

— Multi-Faith Neighbors Network (@MultiFaithNN) June 13, 2022

Another example is the work of Bob Roberts and others in initiatives like the Global Faith Forum. Events like this are sometimes described as multifaith, promoting mutual respect for our diversity rather than more traditional interfaith efforts which have sometimes been criticised for pretending we all believe the same thing.

Faith Bloggers are already producing wonderful religious content which deserves a wider audience, the mainstream media has a vacuum that needs filling. Why don’t we collaborate?

Compassion fatigue, the Saviour complex, and Benevolent detachment

Dawkins vs Collins – amicable and engaging meeting of two great minds

A Muslim, a Christian, and a Jew walked into a church in Texas . . .

What is a Christian?

Eleven Things Muslims agree with Christians about concerning Jesus

Six Things Christians and Muslims disagree about over Jesus

How a generation of Evangelicals failed to colonise TV

Gender: Complementarian vs Egalitarian Spectrum

Debates and Theological Spectrums

Progressive Christian

Nonreligious

Muslim

Jewish

Interfaith

General Christian

Eastern Orthodox

Catholic

Women in Religion

Technology and Religion

Religion News

Relationships and Religion

Politics and Religion

Education and Religion

Careers, Workplace and Religion

Faith And Media Initiative

Previous Post

September 18, 2022

"Do small things with great love" - Queen Elizabeth

Next Post

October 6, 2022 No one is immortal. What will you do with your time ?

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category 1 and 2 Corinthians 1 and 2 Thessalonians 1 and 2 Timothy 1 John 300 Leaders A Life of Joy Abortion Acts of the Apostles Adrian on radio Adrian on TV Adrian's Story Albert Mohler Amazing Grace Arminocalvinist Spectrum Assurance Atonement Atonement Series Attributes of God Barnabas Best of the Blog Bible Bible Software Bible Translation Biblical Inerrancy Billy Graham Bob Roberts Books C. J. Mahaney Calvinism Cessationism Charis Warnock Charismatic Spectrum Charles Simeon Charles Spurgeon Church Leadership Colossians Complementarian - Egalitarian Spectrum Complementarianism Conferences Culture Daniel Debates Deuteronomy DGM08 DGM13 Discernment Doctrine Don Carson Ed Stetzer Eddy Leo Ephesians ESV Bible Translators Interview Evangelism in a Post-Christian World evolution Exodus Expository Preaching Ezekial Faith and Feelings Family Florida Galatians General Genesis Get Wisdom - Proverbs sermons Gifts of The Holy Spirit Gifts of the Holy Spirit 2006 Global Faith Forum Godly Attitudes Gospel Gospels Grace Greg Haslam Grudem vs Piper: The Baptism Debate Healing Heaven Hell and Rob Bell Hebrews Henry Tyler Henry Warnock Holy Spirit Holy Spirit Baptism Hope Reborn Hugh Palmer Irresistable Grace Isaiah J. I. Packer Jack Hayford Joel Joel Warnock John John Lanferman John MacArthur John Newton John Owen John Piper John Smyth Jonathan Edwards Josh Harris Justification Justin Taylor Kenneth Ulmer Leadership Leadership Lessons from 1 & 2 Samuel Lex Loizides Liam Goligher Lig Duncan Limited Atonement Lou Fellingham Mark Dever Mark Driscoll Martyn Lloyd-Jones Matt Chandler Mental Health Missionary Methods: St Paul’s or Ours? My Story N. T. Wright Nehemiah NWA08 NWA09 NWA10 Opinion OT History Books Pentateuch Personal Personal Revival Philippians PJ Smyth Podcast Politics Preaching Prophecy Proverbs Psalms Raised With Christ Reformed Charismatic Regeneration Relationships Resurrection Resurrection & Salvation Revival Rice Broocks Rich Man and Lazarus Rick Warren Rob Rufus Roland Allen Romans Sam Storms Sanctification Series Sermons Sermons on Philippians Serving Jesus at Work Sexuality Sin St Paul Steve Chalke Strange Fire Suffering T4G T4G Statement TAB09 Tamasin Warnock Teamwork Terry Virgo The Atonement Debate - Chalke book The Soulwinner The Spirit-Filled Church The Traitor Within Theologcial Spectrums Theosis Tim Challies Tim Keller Titus TOAM06 TOAM07 TOAM08 TOAM09 TOAM10 TOAM11 Todd Bentley Tope Koleoso Total Depravity Video Water Baptism Wayne Grudem Worship

Select a Month October 2026 September 2026 August 2026 July 2026 June 2026 May 2026 April 2026 March 2026 February 2026 January 2026 December 2025 November 2025 October 2025 September 2025 May 2025 April 2025 January 2025 November 2024 October 2024 August 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 August 2023 May 2023 April 2023 February 2023 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 August 2021 May 2021 April 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 January 2019 December 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 June 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 June 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011 December 2010 November 2010 October 2010 September 2010 August 2010 July 2010 June 2010 May 2010 April 2010 March 2010 February 2010 January 2010 December 2009 November 2009 October 2009 September 2009 August 2009 July 2009 June 2009 May 2009 April 2009 March 2009 February 2009 January 2009 December 2008 November 2008 October 2008 September 2008 August 2008 July 2008 June 2008 May 2008 April 2008 March 2008 February 2008 January 2008 December 2007 November 2007 October 2007 September 2007 August 2007 July 2007 June 2007 May 2007 April 2007 March 2007 February 2007 January 2007 December 2006 November 2006 October 2006 September 2006 August 2006 July 2006 June 2006 May 2006 April 2006 March 2006 February 2006 January 2006 December 2005 November 2005 October 2005 September 2005 August 2005 July 2005 June 2005 May 2005 April 2005 March 2005 February 2005 January 2005 December 2004 November 2004 October 2004 September 2004 August 2004 July 2004 June 2004 May 2004 April 2004 March 2004 February 2004 January 2004 December 2003 November 2003 October 2003 September 2003 August 2003 July 2003 June 2003 May 2003 April 2003

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

What does Paul say is the greatest of faith, hope, and love?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Hope Grace Love Faith

Books by This Author Books by Adrian Warnock

See All Titles »